Strong Tower
by NaleyBrucasFan - aka Lizzy
Summary: Serena is struggling with every aspects of her life with Georgina around. It's up to both Blair and Chuck to help pick up the pieces. But the question is does she want them too and how much can they really help? DS, CB, BS, CS
1. Chapter 1

First of all I want to thank Blood Red Kiss of Death for being an awesome Beta! IThis story was written before the last episode aired. know some might call me crazy for doing two stories at once but then idea got stuck in my head and I couldn't get it out. I hope yall enjoy it!

* * *

Chapter One

Serena van der Woodsen had everything her heart could possibly imagine: her family was finally a family again, she had the perfect boyfriend whom she loved very much, and she and her best friend, Blair Waldorf, had a friendship that was as strong as ever.

Serena was actually happy and saw her life headed in the right direction with the right people by her side. And then, her now ex-friend just had to come back into town and turn her life into a living hell once again. Nothing good ever came around while Serena was with Georgina Sparks, and it took Serena looking at Georgie through a different perspective to realize that. Georgina was very manipulative and knew exactly what to say to Serena to make her cringe and go along with whatever she was doing. And right now Georgina's plan was to make Serena's life a living hell and she was succeeding.

Serena was having problems with Dan, her mom and her were fighting again, she wasn't sleeping, and her grades were slowly beginning to slip. Chuck, Blair and Eric seemed to be the only stable people in her life right now. All three of them could slowly see Serena going back to her old ways as a coping mechanism, and were trying their hardest to steer her in the right direction again.

Serena had begun to "live" at Blair's house or Chuck's suite, not wanting to go home and deal with her mother. Even Eric was feeling the strain and was trying his best to stay out of the house when it was possible. Sometimes he would crash on the couch that Nate now vacated, when Lily allowed it of course.

This morning was like any other. Serena had gotten less than three hours of sleep and was dreading what events might take place today. If Chuck wasn't there to get her out of bed – actually, it was more like throw her off the bed – she would still be sound asleep. She and Chuck took turns on who got the bed and who got the air mattress when she wasn't at Blair's or instructed to go up to the penthouse. As soon as Chuck left the room, she laid back down.

"I don't think so! Get up, S!" Blair's voice rang out. This had become a routine for the last week or so. Blair would be at the suite bright and early in the morning to make sure that Serena was actually up and getting ready for school. Then, she and Chuck would walk to school, while Serena usually walked with Eric, walked by herself to help clear her head, or they would all take the limo.

Serena did what she was told and went into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready. She was too tired to protest.

"This is getting old fast," Blair cried out when Chuck walked next to her.

"Tell me about it," he nodded in agreement.

Thirty minutes later, all four of them were out the door and on their way to the joint schools. Now, of course, Serena looked nothing like her normal drop dead gorgeous self. Her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail, she had dark circles under her eyes, and her skin was paler than normal. She didn't have the strength to care about her appearance. All she wanted was for the day to be over so tomorrow would start and hopefully all of this would be over.

Today was a limo day, since it had been drizzling the night before and Blair refused to walk through puddles with her new Jimmy Choo heels. And even though she knew Serena didn't care, she wasn't about to let her ruin her shoes either.

When they got to school, Serena, who immediately saw Dan, slowly went to walk to him hoping that today's conversation wouldn't end in either them fighting later on or them barely talking at all. She didn't know which was worse, but could tell it was killing both of their hearts. He needed her to talk to him and she wasn't about to tell him everything, terrified it would hurt or change him if he knew.

Eric left for class, while Chuck and Blair sat down at a more private table to talk.

"Chuck, we seriously have to do something!" Blair stated. It was funny how everything going on with Serena had made them become closer again.

"I know that, Blair. Trust me." He'd seen what all this was doing to his step sister and it wasn't getting better. Serena was under so much stress that it was making her sick regularly and she was crying herself to sleep most nights.

"My only question is, how did it get this far? What did Serena do to Georgina that was so bad? You'd think she'd stop after seeing how bad all of this is affecting her," Chuck added.

"I'm not sure if it's all Georgina. I mean, don't get me wrong, she still has a hell of a lot to do with it, but I think the problems that her and Dan are having are magnifying it. And no, that doesn't mean that you can go beat up Dan, Chuck, so don't even think about it!" Blair stated, knowing the look Chuck wore all too well. "That would really send her over the edge."

"Okay, fine, whatever. You wouldn't happen to have a plan now would you?" Chuck understood but still rolled his eyes.

"Nope, not yet. I've tried everything I can think of and nothing is working. Every time I tell Georgina to stay the hell away from her, things just seem to get worse." Blair answered.

"Well, we've got to think of something and fast."

They continued to talk about Serena until they both saw her walking away from Dan, her head lowered and looking like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

"Shit! I've got her," Blair cussed, which she didn't do often in public but she was getting sick and tired of this. It wasn't easy seeing your best friend so messed up. She was seriously beginning to wonder if Serena was becoming clinically depressed and needed medication.

"Serena! Stop!" Blair demanded when she caught up with her.

Serena did exactly what she was told and turned around facing her best friend. Blair wasn't surprised by what she saw, well not immediately at least. The tears were once again coming down. Then Blair noticed how white Serena's face was and that her balance was off. Blair was scared she was about to pass out on her.

"Okay, S..." she said sweetly grabbing Serena's hands, "We're going to sit down on that bench, okay?" Blair kept looking towards the school hoping to see Chuck or Nate or hell even Dan so she could get some help, then back at Serena.

By this time Serena was feeling horrible, and her vision was spotty. So all she did was nod and let Blair guide her.

Blair sat Serena down without incident, and immediately made her put her head between her legs when Serena told her she was dizzy. Blair was now freaking out. Where the freaking hell were their friends when you really needed them? Then, the tardy bell and Blair understood where everyone was. She had her cell phone in her hand and was just about to send a text to Chuck telling him to get his ass out of class and come and help her, when Serena slowly lifted her head back up.

"You okay?" Blair asked comfortingly, noting that some color was starting to slowly come back.

Serena nodded and closed her eyes.

"Serena what's going on? I need answers, now! Not talking isn't an option anymore. You almost just collapsed!" Blair stated, raising her voice a little to show how serious she truly was.

"I've just been..." that was all she could say, before she felt her gag reflexes go into effect.

Blair could only watch as her best friend tried to catch her breath as her body tried to expel everything in her stomach, but there wasn't anything left. Then a light went off in Blair's head. She knew for a fact that Serena hadn't been up all night ill, so only one thing could cause this.

"Serena, when's the last time you actually ate?"

"Two days," Serena answered and as she saw Blair's face change she added, "I just haven't been hungry."

"I don't care! You could make yourself really sick! We're going to get you something now." Blair wasn't one to talk, she didn't have the best eating habits in the world, but still. She also reminded herself to tell Chuck to make sure that Serena ate regularly.

It took a little coaxing from Blair, but she finally convinced Serena to eat the muffin she'd bought, and thirty minutes later, she sent Serena back to the hotel after having a long conversation. Blair didn't care right now that she and Serena had both missed a pop quiz in History. She was too worried. And she didn't want Serena to possibly pass out in school so she sent her home. Blair would come up with an excuse for her teachers.

When the cab stopped at the hotel, Serena realized that she didn't have a key to Chuck's suit, so she had to go up to the penthouse, but thankfully her mother wasn't home. She lay down on her bed and was asleep almost immediately.

When Serena woke up, she felt refreshed, which hadn't happened for a few weeks. She looked at the clock and saw that it was already 4:30 PM, meaning that Chuck, and most likely Blair, would be over any minute. Turning to her phone, she noticed a missed call from Dan and immediately pressed one on her phone for voicemail. She knew this message wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Serena, we seriously need to talk. Call me when you get this. Bye."

She could feel the tears well up in her eyes as she pressed number 3 on her phone and held the button down, letting speed dial do the rest.

Then she waited, completely terrified of what to come.

"Hello."

"Hey, it's me," she answered, her voice shaking a little.

"Can you come over? We need to talk." Dan stated, noticing the uneasiness in Serena's voice. He'd noticed how horribly fragile Serena had become. It was killing him to see her the way she was. The only thing he wanted to do was take her far away and keep her from everything that was bothering her, but this is something that he had to do not only for himself but for her as well. Plus, he knew that he was a big portion of the problem, so he was setting her free.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there in 25."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." This time her response was only a whisper, as a tear began to fall from her baby blue eyes. She sent a text to Blair telling her not to freak if she came over and she wasn't there, and telling her that she felt fine so there was no need to worry.

Twenty-seven minutes later, and yes, she counted, she arrived in front of the Humphrey loft. She could feel her knees getting a little weaker. She was scared to go inside because she knew exactly what about to happen. And it was breaking her heart into a million pieces.

"Serena," she turned around to see both Rufus and Jenny heading out of the front door and on their way towards her.

"Hey," she smiled back, trying to act as normal as possible.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale." Jenny asked a little worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Jenny," she answered, even though she was lying through her teeth.

Jenny nodded and dropped the subject.

"Jenny and I have to go, but Dan is upstairs waiting for you," Rufus informed her.

Again, she just nodded and then slowly began to make her way to the door as she watched Jenny and Rufus walk away laughing at something. Another tear made its way down Serena's cheek.

A couple of minutes later, she reached the Humphrey front door. "_Get yourself together,"_ she told herself and got up as much courage as she could, then walked through the door already knowing that it was unlocked.

Dan was sitting in the living room looking just as bad as Serena. His color was off and he was extremely anxious.

"Sit down."

She obeyed, beginning to wonder why this was happening. It was obvious that this was killing him as much as it was her. They could just stop this whole conversation before it even started, make up, and enjoy the rest of the time they had together alone.

"Dan..." she started, getting up the courage to open her mouth.

"No, I need you to just listen," he interrupted, letting brown eyes meet blue.

She nodded, adverting her eyes elsewhere for a minute then looking back; continuing to tell herself to keep her emotions under control and not cry.

"You know I love you..."

_Why did he have to start with that?!_ She asked herself trying her best to keep her composure, letting her eyes wonder again. Dan talking again brought her back to reality.

"Serena, look at me," he commanded, gently grabbing her face with his hand and turning her towards him. She did what she was told.

"Like I said, you know I love you. Actually, that's a complete understatement; there aren't enough words in the dictionary to describe how much you mean to me... Shhhhh..." he said as she began to open her mouth. "But something has got to change. And right now, I have no clue what that is, and until I do, I just need some time. I don't want to break up, but it seems like it's the only solution right now."

Hearing those words, a couple of tears slowly rolled down her pale cheeks, which she quickly brushed away.

"But this doesn't mean that I don't love you, because I do more than I think you even know. I just need some time."

That was it; that was the last straw. Serena couldn't be in here any longer, she had to get out. Still trying her best not to cry anymore in front of him, she just nodded and immediately left the loft. Noticing as she left that Dan hadn't moved from the spot where he was and didn't call after her. He wasn't coming to save her this time; what happened had just really happened. Feeling nauseous and claustrophobic**,** she rushed down the stairs and waved down the first cab that she saw. Tears were streaming down her face when she got into the cab. She couldn't believe what had just happened. How could this have happened? Why did she let this happen? She didn't know how much more of this she could handle. Her world had completely changed in what seemed like overnight, and it was slowly killing her. She immediately thought to call Blair, but then again it, seemed like Blair had been dealing with enough of her issues lately and what could she do. It's not like she had a magical button that could fix Serena and Dan's relationship. And on top of that, Serena wasn't really in a talking mood. No, that's not what she needed; she needed an escape, something to help her not feel anything, and she knew exactly what it was.


	2. Chapter 2

_Note: Thanks to Blood Red Kiss of Death for being an excellent Beta! Thanks for all the review everyone sent! Yall are awesome! This chapter is for yall. I hope you all like it._

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

Serena pulled out her cell phone from her new Coach purse and called a number she never thought she would need again.

"S! Hi," Georgina Sparks greeted like nothing had changed between the two old friends.

Serena took a deep breath before cutting straight to the point of the phone call: "Dan and I broke up and I need to escape. Meet me in 20 minutes."

She didn't even wait for her drinking buddy to respond before she hung up. Then, Serena redirected the cab driver to the club location, refusing to let her emotions get the best of her or she would completely lose it.

By the time Serena got there, Georgina had already arrived.

"Hey, S." Georgina said with her party smile that made Serena want to smack her.

"Georgina," Serena spit out in greeting.

"Whoa! Why did you call me if you didn't want to have fun?" she pouted.

"Because I need to let loose and I know Blair would try to talk me out of it. Are you coming in or not?" Serena snapped.

Georgina nodded and followed Serena into the club.

The brunette was shocked at Serena's attitude, to say the least. It wasn't often that Serena had, what Georgina called "the Blair bitchiness" going on, but right now, it was on full force. If Georgina's plan wasn't working exactly how she wanted it to, she might have felt remorseful towards Serena.

Serena immediately sat down on the nearest empty stool at the bar, not caring if Georgina was next to her or not and immediately got the bartender's attention. She needed a drink and she needed it now!

_XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX_

About an hour later, Serena had gotten herself drunk and was dancing carelessly with a couple of guys she'd never met before. She had completely lost Georgina about twenty minutes ago, but knowing G, she was with some guy doing something that Serena didn't want to know about; if she was still in the club at all. Serena wasn't shocked that she had left her though; that was Georgina Sparks for you.

Serena's legs were getting rubbery and she felt dehydrated. Wanting something/anything nonalcoholic, she stumbled back to her seat at the bar to take a breather. As soon as Serena ordered a glass of water, she felt someone grab her arm. Serena looked up and saw one of the guys that she was dancing with, and even though her consciousness was screaming otherwise, she followed him.

He led her outside and Serena lagged behind by a couple moments. He then gripped her arms and she got an adrenaline rush, and not the good kind. She wanted him off her.

_OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX_

Serena woke up not realizing where she was. All she knew was that she was in a lot of pain. She felt around until her hand collided with her purse, which held her cell phone. She was actually surprised that it wasn't broken; now she just hoped that her wallet was safe but she'd check that later. She immediately dialed her mom; right now all the issues they were having didn't matter. She already knew Blair wouldn't be able to handle this, and she told herself that Dan wouldn't care, which was a total fabrication. And Georgina, well, she wouldn't give a damn since she was the one who left her at the club by herself in the first place.

The phone rang twice before she heard her mom say hello. It took Serena a couple of seconds to find her voice and respond. During this time Lily had said hello again.

Lily was just about to hang up when she heard a noise like someone crying.

"Mom ... can you come get me?" she heard her daughter cry.

"Come get you? Serena what's going on?" Lily insisted with utter confusion written all over face.

"Mom, please? I really need you."

Hearing those words with that tone of voice completely broke Lily's heart. "Serena what's wrong? What happened?" she asked again with a little more force in her voice. The only thing her stern voice did was make Serena cry harder.

"Mommy..." Lily hadn't been called Mommy by Serena since she was ten, so Lily knew it was something serious and was becoming really uneasy, "...he" that was all that Lily needed to hear. She had a pretty good idea of what had happened.

"Serena, I'll be there as soon as I can," she exclaimed as she slammed her phone shut and rushed out the door.

It was about ten minutes later that Lily arrived. As soon as Serena saw her, the tears started rolling, again. Lily immediately wrapped her daughter into a hug, which only made Serena sob harder. Lily could feel her daughter shaking and gripping her shirt with all her might, like she was afraid that her mother was going to either let go or disappear.

"Baby, it's going to be okay," she soothed as she rubbed Serena's back. She didn't know who she was saying it for, herself or her daughter. She'd never seen Serena so broken before.

After about five minutes of letting Serena cry, Lily began to loosen her grip on her daughter. "Serena, I need you to tell me what happened."

All she got out of that was more crying and Serena lashing her head from side to side saying no. "Honey, I can't help fix this and get you help if you don't tell me what happened."

This time the response was different. Serena lifted her head up, looked at her mother, and then started talking.


	3. Chapter 3

Author Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. This chapter has actually been finished for almost 3 weeks now. It wasn't checked by a beta so please ignore all the spelling and grammar errors and I know it might now be my best chapter ever, but I hope yall like it.

Also this chapter deals with a pretty sensitive subject, just to warn you.

* * *

Chapter Three

After finding out what happened Lily immediately took Serena to the hospital to get checked out. Of course like most places in the upper East Side, the doctors and nurses knew to keep their mouths shut. Lily knew something like this could ruin her daughter's reputation, but right now she had more important things to worry about.

Serena was seen as soon as Lily told them what had happened and more importantly who they were. She was sincerely concerned that Serena was going into shock or something, because she couldn't stop the constant flow of tears running down her face, but at the same time she wasn't focusing on anything either. She'd answer the doctors and nurses questions very monotoned and had one word responses which wasn't Serena like at all. All the pain and misery that Lily had seen in her daughter's blue eyes earlier had been replaced with a blankness, along with the liveliness that was always present.

It didn't take long before the doctor's diagnosis was in and Lily's worst nightmare confirmed. Her little girl had been raped. On top of that Serena also had several bruises and contusions all over her body and her left wrist was fractured. It was obvious that Serena hadn't gone down without a fight. Even though they'd done the rape kit they still had more test that they had to run, but Lily had had more than enough. She could see how upset Serena was and the doctor was a lunatic if she couldn't.

"STOP!!" she shouted, causing Serena to jump a little.

The doctor immediately looked up at Lily puzzled.

"I want a new doctor and a private room for my daughter right this instant!"

"Mrs. Van der Woodsen I assure you I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing. You're daughter is getting excellent care." the doctor looked bewildered that Lily had even mentioned anything.

"No you're not! You don't give a damn about her. She's just another patient to you. But I'll tell you something right now, she's not. She's my daughter and if you don't stop doing whatever in the hell you're doing and find her a new doctor to take over her care! I mean it if you touch her again you'll have a lawsuit on your hands so fast it'll make your head spin." Lily barked.

The doctor immediately left the area, still kinda shocked about what had just happened.

Serena, even through all the fog that clogged her head, couldn't help but be surprised. She'd had never heard her mother act like this in her life. It was so, well motherly.

"Thanks Mom." she whispered and she leaned back in the hospital bed.

Lily looked over at her daughter and smiled.

They immediately moved Serena into a regular more private room, unlike the ER which has been extremely busy and had people, doctors, and patients zooming every which a way. This room was quiet and had a more calming feel, well as calming as it can be for a hospital room. Serena's care had been transferred over to Dr. Laine Howard, after Lily demanded Serena be put under the best care possible. Dr. Howard won over Lily's respect almost immediately, and truly felt for her patient since she'd seen her sister go through Serena went through when she was younger. She went through the rest of the following rape procedures with Serena, while taking the time to explain everything to both her and Lily.

Dr. Howard promised Lily that instead of Serena having to tell what happened that night to both the police and the hospital's psychologist and have to relive it twice that she could just talk to the psychologist and they could record it for the police. Lily agreed knowing that once was going to be hard enough, let alone to complete strangers. Dr. Howard took Lily out of the room so they could talk in private, leaving Serena alone to think.

"_Finally,"_ she though. Yes she was dazed, but it was a coping mechanism and for the most part it seemed to be working. But after a couple of minutes thoughts that she didn't want to think about started creeping backing into her head and she wanted her mom to come back so she could distract her.

--

Twenty minutes later there was a knock. Lily, who was sitting right next to Serena's bed, immediately got up, but before she reached the door it opened, and Dr. Howard and another women walked in.

"Serena this is Dr. Rhodes. Remember when I said I told you she was coming?" Dr. Howard reminded not trying to make Serena seem stupid, but just reading off how dazed her patient seemed. "She's going to ask you a couple of questions."

Serena looked up at the new blonde doctor that walked into her room. She looked like every other doctor Serena had seen tonight, white lab coat and scrubs.

"Should I stay or go?" Lily asked, looking not only at her daughter but also at the two doctors in the room.

"That's Serena's decision," Dr. Rhodes explained.

Lily turned to her daughter and asked again.

"Idon'tcare," Serena mumbled, her words jumbled together.

Lily was torn, but she knew what she had to do. "I'll stay."

Serena didn't know if she was happy or not. She was glad that her mother was there but at the same time didn't want her there either.

Serena answered questions and talked a little for about twenty minutes before it started getting to much for her and she broke down again, tears pouring down her cheeks and breathing unbalanced and ragged.

Lily spent the next couple of minutes helping her calm down and getting her breathing back to normal. It was ripping her apart to see Serena like this. As soon as Serena stopped crying she went back into her almost cationic/dazed state that she was in when they'd arrived at the hospital.

Lily just watched as Serena played with the blue knitted blanket that she was covered in. She had to walk out of the room, all this was getting to be almost too much. She was strong, but this event was pushing it.

--

Serena barely looked up when she heard Dr. Howard knock on the heavy wooden door.

"Can I come in for a second?" she asked sweetly, cautious as she walked in knowing how sensitive some rape patients could be after they went through the psych exam.

Serena just nodded, still not taking her eyes off her blanket she was still fiddling with. Doctor Howard could still see the red tear marks that streaked Serena's face and knew that that talking to Dr. Rhodes hasn't been easy for her.

"Can you look at me? I need to talk to you about something pretty serious," she asked as she sat down in the chair that had been previously occupied by Lily. "I asked your mother to stay out in the hall so I could have a moment will you alone. "

Serena nodded again, but this time let her eyes met the doctors. She felt the doctor slip her hand into her own and immediately knew something wasn't right.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to Dana (upchitzcreek) for checking this for me. I hope yall enjoy this chapter. Without further ado...

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

Serena immediately started to panic but continued to listen to what the doctor was saying. Hoping she wasn't about to hear what she thought she was about to hear.

"Serena the blood test that we took showed that you're pregnant . So if we were to give you the morning after pill then it would probably kill the baby that's already growing inside you."

Serena couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was no way that this could be true... there had to be some mistake. That definitely wasn't was she was thinking! Then a million thoughts started shooting through her head. She and Dan had broken up. They're relationship was no more, how was she going to deal with this as well? Had this whole event hurt the baby? What was Dan going to think? How was she going to tell Dan? How was she going to tell her mother?

"How long?" that was all she could get out, tears streaming down her face once again.

"Your levels show about six weeks." Dr. Howard responded, worried at how pale her patient had just become. She knew that this news had just changed this young women's life forever and that wasn't easy to take in, but she also didn't want her patient fainting on her either.

"I'm going to be sick!" Serena gasped lunging forward her face as white as a sheet. Dr. Howard reacted fast and jammed a basin in front of her. A couple of minutes later, Serena fell back on her pillows exhausted and tears rolling down her face. Dr. Howard felt horrible for her patient. She'd already been through enough for one night.

"Better?" I can give you some anti-nausea medication if you think you need it." She said as she gently wiped the sheet of sweat off of Serena's forehead with a damp towel.

Serena nodded her head yes, even though she wasn't telling the truth, and thanked her.

"Okay, but if you get sick again let someone know and we'll give you something. We don't want you to get dehydrated." She said as she scrolled something down on Serena's chart.

"What about drinking? I had a lot to drink tonight." Serena confessed.

"A one time situation usually doesn't cause any harm, but truthfully we won't know anything until the baby is born."

All Serena could do was nod, she felt sick to her stomach again.

The doctor began to walk towards the door when Serena called out, "Wait, one more thing. Can you please not tell my mother?" Dr. Howard turned around and when she saw her patients pleading eyes, she agreed, then continued towards the door then out into the hallway.

Lily was standing by the nurse's station holding a cup of coffee in her hands when Dr. Howard walked up. As soon as she was in talking distance Lily asked her if everything was alright. Dr. Howard nodded and smiled sweetly.

"You can go see her again. She's not feeling well, so you might want to just watch her. If she starts feeling nauseous again just let us know and one of the nurses will give her something for it. I'll be back to check on her within the hour."

"Thank you Doctor," Lily said then rushed back into her daughters room. When she walked in she saw Serena's eyes were closed but there were still tears running down her face, so Lily knew she wasn't asleep.

Serena finally fell asleep half an hour later. Lily stepped out of the room and called Bart to explain to him what happened and where she was, not caring that it was pushing 1:30 in the morning. She also told him not to tell Chuck or Eric. She would tell them when the time was right. Lily tried her best to get some sleep, but she couldn't get the pictures of what she'd seen out of her head. It took her a while but she did finally dose off. Lily still couldn't believe that this had happened to her little girl.

--

At 4am Serena opened her eyes, and even though all she felt was pain, she was wide awake. Her whole body hurt and felt like it weighed five hundred pounds. It took her a minute but then she remembered exactly what happened and where she was. All Serena wanted to do was go back to sleep, because when she was awake she kept on playing what happened over and over again in her head, but she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried to go back to sleep, it wasn't happening. She had to get out of here, being confined in this bed was making her apprehensive and the smell of the room was making her nauseous. Ignoring the pain, she slowly allowed herself to sit up and began to move towards the edge of the bed until her feet her touching the cold tile floor. She had to get out of here and she had to do it now. Since they took her clothes, she quietly slipped her mother's jacket over the nightgown she was wearing and slipped her shoes on. She was getting the hell out of her if it was the last thing she did, she would call Lily later and explain everything, but right now she needed to feel safe and she definitely wasn't getting that feeling here. Serena slipped out of the hospital without causing a uproar, even though she had to hide from the night nurse once. She hailed down a cab, knowing exactly where she needed to go, she told the driver the address and sped off into the night.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter was so difficult for me to write for some reason, but I hope yall like it. This is dedicated to Manda because without her advice and help this chapter wouldn't be done yet.

Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 5

Serena ignored the looks that she was receiving from the cab driver. It was obvious that a million questions were running through his head at that moment, like what happened to this girl; Serena's hair was plastered to her head, she had some visible bruises, her arm, and the hospital gown was a dead giveaway. But he kept his mouth shut and drove. When the cab finally stopped, Serena paid and thanked him. Even though moving was painful, she sucked it up and forced herself to move. All she could think about was that in a matter of minutes she would be somewhere where she was comfortable and felt safe.

As she walked into the building she began to feel guilty. Guilty for leaving the hospital, because she knew that her mother was going to go ballistic, guilty for not calling first, and guilty that there was a chance that she might wake everyone up when she came in.

After about ten minutes she finally made it to where she wanted to be, without making much noise and as far as she knew without waking anyone up. Serena quietly opened the bedroom door, which had been closed, but not locked, five seconds earlier. Her eyes immediately glanced over across the room to the sleeping figure. She slowly slid off her shoes and placed her coat on the chair, still not taking her eyes off them, and then slipped into the bed, careful not to move too much. Her body immediately thanked her for the lack of moment and the pain ceased a little. Serena turned around on her side, facing the person sleeping next to her, Blair. Even though her heart still wished she was on the other side of NYC and slipping into another person's bed; she knew that she couldn't deal with seeing the love of her life right now. She had way to many things that would have to be explained and besides she still didn't know how he would react to seeing her. So she figured that coming to Blair's would be a better option, even though she knew Blair was going to freak as well, she thought she could deal with Blair better than Dan at the moment.

It was 9 am, Blair Waldorf began to awaken from her "beauty sleep". She opened her eyes to notice that blond hair was draped over her arm. Blair immediately freaked and shot up out of bed, her head shooting around. She finally relaxed when she saw that it was just Serena. She'd been known to just show up in her bed when she and Lily had gotten into a huge fight when she was younger. It took Blair a couple of minutes to notice the bruises on her best friend's face and then she saw the thick ace bandage.

"SERENA!! WHAT THE HELL??" Blair shirked.

A moment later Serena shot up for the bed, not realizing how much pain she was about to be in and gasped for breath. She fought to keep the tears that were welling up behind her eyes to stay at bay.

"Hey B…" Serena said as casually as possible, as she rubbed her eyes with her palms.

"Don't you even think about "Hey B"ing me! What the heck happened? Are you okay? Did Dan do this??" Blair shouted her 20 questions. She was freaking out now. The last time she saw Serena she was fine, upset yes, but not injured.

"NO!" Serena screamed at the last question. How could Blair even think that. This was Dan they were talking about here.

Blair tried to get Serena to look at her in the eyes but it wasn't working.

"Then are you at least okay?" Blair asked still trying to look into her best friend eyes by turning her head different directions and trying to catch a glimpse of them.

Serena didn't say anything just looked away.

"Serena? Please tell me what's wrong?" Blair asked very sweetly, her eyes locked on her best friend.

Hearing this sent Serena over the edge and tears immediately started running down her face. Blair's concern turned into full worry.

"S, we can fix this but I need to know what happened first." Blair coaxed as she pulled Serena into a hug.

Serena lost it and began sobbing all over again. You'd think her body would be out of tears but they just kept on coming. All Blair could do was just hold her, while becoming more and more confused, as all these different scenarios of what might have happened flashed in her head.

"Hey it's okay. Whatever it is I'm sure we can fix it." "Shhh. Everything's going to be okay." Blair whispered into Serena's ear on several occasions. Blair was now extremely worried, this was not like Serena, they told each other everything. Well almost everything.

Hearing all the words just made Serena more upset. She wanted to tell Blair, she really did, but she didn't want to have to relive those horrid events. So she just let her chin rest on Blair's shoulder until she was ready to talk.

When Serena finally sat up and looked into Blair's eyes, Blair could see how distraught she really was. There was no sparkle in Serena's eyes, they were glassy and bright red. Whatever had happened was devastating her.

"Ummm…" Serena started as she looked at Blair's bedspread and started messing with it with her fingers. "I don't know how to explain last night,"

Blair's expression changed from worried to confused. Before she knew it she was speaking, "With words."

This actually made Serena smile, only Blair would say something like that in a situation like this.

Seeing Serena smile made Blair feel better. She gently reached her arm up and gripped Serena shoulder so that knew she was there."Whatever it is. I'm here for you all the way."

Serena slowly nodded her head then began to tell Blair everything from when she and Dan broke up, to the Club, and then she started into the rape part her voice went down a few notches. By the end of it Serena was in tears again and Blair felt a red hot anger rushing through her body. Blair had a million and one questions running through her mind right now but she kept silent. The last thing Serena needed right now was an interrogation, especially after what she'd just said.

"But that's not it…" Serena whispered as more tears ran onto Blair's silk comforter.

Blair couldn't imagine what Serena was about to say. How in the world could there be more?

"Blair I'm pregnant." She said the last word so quietly Blair couldn't hear her.

"You're what?"

"I'mpregnant," Serena said a little louder, but still not going over a whisper.

But this time Blair heard her. She immediately gasped and her brown eyes went as big as baseballs. All this was way too much for one person to take in at one time. She couldn't imagine what was going on inside Serena's head. No wonder she's been so resistant to talk.

"How'd they tell so early? That bastard just did what he did last night. There's no way they could've unless.." Blair abruptly stopped as the answer clicked in her brain. "Oh my God!" she explained cupping her mouth with her hand.

Serena just looked at her with this ashamed look in her eyes. Blair noticed it and went into best friend/ motherly mode.

"Hey everything's going to be fine. We'll work through this."

Serena nodded and reached for another Kleenex.

"Who else knows?" Blair asked, but her answer was interrupted by the screeching of her cell phone. She slide over the bed and looked at the screen.

"It's Lily."

"No! Please?' Serena begged.

Blair nodded and ending the connection and allowed the voice mail to pick up.

After the fourth phone call Blair turned the phone off. Serena would deal with Lily when she was ready.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say she doesn't know where you are." Blair stated. Serena had left all the details about the hospital out expect her injuries and of course the baby.

Serena nodded, "I slipped out while she was asleep. I couldn't be in there anymore, it was suffocating. And I of course couldn't tell her about the baby. Can you imagine her reaction?!" Serena exclaimed placing her arm around her stomach.

"She's going to find out. This isn't something you can keep secrete for long sweetie." Blair said, waiting for the "thank you captain obvious" look, but it never came. She only got another nod.

"Hey what's going on in that head of yours?" Blair asked. Hoping that her asking all these questions would help Serena get some of this stuff off her chest and allow her to accept the fact that life as she knew it had changed in a blink of an eye.

Serena looked up and took a long deep breath before she finally said, her voice cracking, "How am I going to tell him? He deserves to know, but at the same time, we're broken up. What if he doesn't want anything to do with it? I don't know what to do anymore B."

After hearing this, Blair felt both angry and sympathetic. She knew this wasn't Dan's fault all the way, but she was angry that everything happened this way. It was killing her to see Serena like this. This wasn't the Serena, she knew and loved. She decided that the sympathetic feeling was more important. Dan deserved to know what was going on and be a part of the decision making process on what Serena was going to do, even though Blair already knew the answer.

"The sooner you tell him the better. I'll be right behind you all the way. Besides if he does anything I'll beat his ass or something," she comforted as she grabbed her cell phone and held it towards Serena.

"Right now?" Serena questioned shooting Blair a scared look, as tears rimmed her eyes once again.

"Yea. You can do this. And I'll be right next to you." Blair said in a comforting voice as she dropped the phone into Serena's hand and gave a her a smile.

Serena pushed back the nauseous feeling that was in the pit of her stomach and flashed Blair another cautious look as she punched in the Humphrey home number. Blair gave her a comforting look and push, as Serena took a deep breath then put the phone to her ear. After two rings she heard his voice. All these emotions came rushing back.

"Hello."

"Hey Dan it's me. Please don't hang up. I really need to tell you something."


	6. Chapter 6

Hope yall enjoy this chapter... it was a fun one for me to write. Thanks everyone who reviewed last chapter... yall are the best!

* * *

Chapter Six

"_Hello."_

"_Hey Dan it's me. Please don't hang up. I really need to tell you something."_

"Fine." she heard him huff. She could tell just from the sound of his voice that he was as nervous as she was, which didn't helping that rising feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Serena shot Blair another glance of apprehension as she thought what to say next. She couldn't just come out and say 'I'm pregnant', that would absolutely send him over the edge. She should have thought of a plan before she called him.

"Serena? Hello." She heard Dan utter through her ear.

"Oh sorry. I called you because… ummmm. I need to tell you something." she answered very meekly.

"I think we already established that fact. Now what do you need to tell me?" He questioned with a sense of concern in his voice.

She knew that he knew that something wasn't right. Serena was still struggling with where to start, so she decided to start at the beginning and kill two birds with one stone.

"Ummm… something happened the night we broke up."

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Dan immediately snapped.

Serena was taken back when she babbled, "Nothing! I didn't do anything."

"You didn't get drunk and go sleep with some random guy just for kicks?" he snapped.

Serena was shocked what she just had heard. How could he just say that? Okay yes her track record wasn't the best, but that was a little harsh.

"No!" she shouted, deciding to leave the rape out of it after that response. It's not like he would care anyway; he just demonstrated that.

"Then what is it Serena? Why do you keep prolonging this conversation?" he asked, noting that the past five sentence conversation had taken about 5 minutes.

Something inside Serena snapped. "YOU KNOW WHAT JUST FORGET ABOUT IT! WHO CARES IF THIS IS ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS I'VE EVER HAD TO TELL ANYWAY IN MY LIFE!! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'D CARE ANYWAY!!" she screamed throwing her phone on the ground, then ran into Blair's bathroom locking the door behind her.

Blair picked the cell phone off the floor and saw that the connection has been lost. Because if it hadn't she was going to some yelling herself.

She slowly crept towards the closed bathroom door. "S you okay?" she asked through the door.

When she didn't get an answer, she turned the bathroom door but realized that it was locked. She was about to open her mouth when she heard the distinct sound of retching coming through the walls.

"Serena please let me in." She said raising her voice a little and knocking a little harder.

After a couple minutes of no response and Serena still being sick, Blair decided to take matters into her own hands. She picked up her own cell phone and texted the last person she thought she'd been texting after everything that had happened.

"_911! Come Now!" _the text read, as she sent send. That should wake him up and make him get his ass over here.

A couple of minutes later Blair heard a beep on her phone. She clicked on the text.

"_U better b serious."_

She quickly text back she was and found out that he was on his way. In the mean time she continued to try to get Serena to unlock the door, but nothing was working.

Almost thirty minutes passed before she heard someone walk down the hall. Blair's head shot towards the door, a couple of seconds later she saw Dan standing in the doorway.

"Thank god." Blair exasperated.

"I'm here. What's the emergency?" He asked a little ticked.

"You're girlfriend won't come out of the bathroom! She's locked herself in there after your phone call" Blair snapped.

Dan looked seriously confused. "Okay?"

"Let me rephrase that." Blair stated rolling her eyes, "Your PREGNANT girlfriend just locked herself in there and has been hurling on and off for thirty minutes and won't talk to me."

That time Dan reacted appropriately, even though Blair was pretty sure he stopped listening after she said pregnant.

"WHAT?!" he went to the door and slammed his hand down. "Serena open the door!" he shouted.

"Are you freaking insane! She won't come out for me and I'm calm. Why the hell do you think she'll come out of you?"

"_Good point" _Dan thought. "Sorry. I think I'm still in shock from what you just told me." He said then looked at the lock more closely. "Hey do you have a wire coat hanger? I think I can get this door unlocked."

Blair shook her head no, but grabbed a bobby pin off her dresser. "Will this work? And you better not break that door or you're going to pay to repair it!"

Dan rolled his eyes, as he took the pin out of Blair's hand.

Within a minute or so they both heard the door snap and it unlock.

"Way to go Cabbage Patch! I know who to call next time I need someone to pick a lock." she said started to walk towards of the door to check on Serena.

"Blair can I talk to her first please?" he asked with his eyes pleading.

Blair nodded, backed up and headed towards her bed to sit down.

Dan took a deep breath, placed his right hand on the doorknob, and slowly twisted until the door began to open.

He slowly slid the door open. It didn't take long before his deep brown eyes met her blue.


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter is dedicated to Manda on , because without her I wouldn't have been able to finish this chapter from hell. I hope yall like it. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

* * *

Chapter Seven

It didn't take long before deep brown met blue.

No words were expressed for a while. Dan slowly leaned down and cupped his hand around Serena's face and slid her hair behind her ear. Just looking into his eyes and seeing all the pain and misery caused tears to run down her face.

"I'm… so… sorry," she cried, her voice cracking with every word.

"Shhhhh…" Dan whispered pulling her into a hug. "It's okay… everything is going to be okay. I promise you that. " Dan was still wondering where all the bruises came from, but his mind was concentrating on comforting the love of his life.

All Serena could do was nod and hope that Dan's comforting voice could engulf her and help her calm down. Because right at that moment it seemed like her whole world was crumbling underneath her.

With her head resting on his shoulder, Dan couldn't help but feel the warmth that always engulfed him when she was around. All the anger and disappointment that he'd been feeling earlier just disappeared. As he looked at the long blond hair that was on his chest and smelt that wonderful scent, he seriously wondered why he'd broken off the relationship in the first place. He should have tried harder to get to the bottom of what was going on than what he did do.

"Serena…" he whispered gently pushing her away from him. "I need you to talk to me. Is what Blair said true?"

Serena looked up with tears in her eyes and allowed them to once again lock with Dan's. She nodded then opened her mouth to talk.

"I'm pregnant Dan."

Hearing those words come out of Serena's mouth, made it real for Dan. He couldn't believe it, he was really going to be a father, and teenage father at that.

Before Dan knew it he was gripping Serena's face with his palms, he needed to look into her eyes and make sure that she was telling the total truth. This was a life changing conversation and he wanted to make sure that he was getting the whole truth. Suddenly the look in Serena's eyes changed, they went from concerned and scared to pain filled. Dan gave her a confused look, but then realized why she had that look on her face. His hand was touching one of the bruises on her face, and it was hurting her.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." Dan snapped his arms back, sorrow and fear in his eyes.

"It's okay," Serena smiled answering.

They just sat there looking at each other for a couple of minutes trying to wrap their minds around everything.

Finally Dan opened his mouth. "So who's ass do I have to kick?" he questioned trying to see that beautiful smile of hers.

His plan worked. Serena began to chuckle, but she didn't open up to him like he wanted.

"Seriously Serena what happened? Who hurt you?" he demanded, making sure his eyes were making contact with hers.

Tears began to creep down Serena's face, she took a deep long breath, and began to tell him exactly what happened starting at the beginning.

Some parts were difficult for Dan to hear but nothing would prepare him for what his girlfirend was about to say.

"He dragged me out of the club and did things." Serena said, looking away.

Dan's imagination was going crazy, but he need to hear those words coming from her mouth. He need to know for sure. "Serena what did he do?"

"He… he… he… raped me." She answered whispering the last part, trying her best not to burst into tears.

All Dan felt was red hot anger flood through him. If he ever knew who or run into the guy who did this, he would kill him no questions asked. Dan tried his best to push all that anger out of his system for now, he'd deal with all that later. Right now he had one and one thing only he needed to focus on.

He gripped Serena's unbandaged hand tight but comfortly then asked, "What did the doctor say? Are you going to be okay?"

Serena nodded, looking at Dan again.

"And the baby?"

Before Serena could answer, something rang through the silent air. At first it was just muffled then there was a shriek.

"SERENA CECELIA VAN DER WOODSEN!!"


	8. Chapter 8

First of all I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update this story. College has really gotten in the way of me writing but I know it's not an excuse. I hope you enjoy it and it hasn't been Betaed so I hope the spelling isn't too bad.

* * *

Chapter 8

* * *

Serena body shook when she heard those words come out of her mother's mouth. In her life, she had never heard that tone come out of Lily's mouth. She knew it was because she was just overly worried and probably exhausted, but it still scared her. She immediately looked at Dan, who had the same worried look on his face. This made her freak out a little more. As soon as Dan snapped out of it and realized how much his emotions were affecting his girlfriend, he immediately straightened up and grabbed her hand letting her know that he wasn't about to leave her.

They heard the turn of the doorknob not two seconds later. Dan immediately stood up making sure that Serena was behind him. If Lily wanted to do anything to her and their baby, he was going to have to go through him first.

Lily's eyes were filled with worry and anger as she looked in and saw her daughter and her boyfriend in the bathroom. Serena was leaned up against Blair Waldorf's marble bathtub while Dan was standing between her and her daughter.

"Serena we need to talk right now," Lily said through her teeth, then she looked at Dan and added, "…alone."

All Serena could do was shake her head no, being alone with her mother was the last thing she wanted right now. She needed protection from what Lily might do, especially if she had found out about the baby.

"Daniel will you please give us a minute?" Lily asked more politely but still had a tent of anger/worry in her voice.

Dan looked down at Serena who immediately violently shook her head no and moved her hand to the tile next to her, asking him to please sit down. He went against what his mind was screaming at him and sat down. Truth be told, Lily scared him when she was like this but this was not about Lily it was about Serena and he knew she would never forgive him if she left.

"I'm not leaving her. Whatever you have to say you can say it to both of us." Dan said in a strong voice. A voice that he couldn't believe was coming out of his mouth, there was no mention of the anxiety he was feeling.

"Daniel you have nothing to do with this! It is between my daughter and me!" Lily said a little more aggravated.

Dan stood up and said, "Actually I do…" but stopped midsentence when he felt Serena reached up and grabbed his arm telling him to zip it.

"What were you going to say?" Lily demanded.

"Mom! Stop it! Stop attacking him! He did nothing wrong! If anything he helped me calm down and see the bright side of this whole situation!" It was like something inside Serena snapped and she let out of the emotions that she'd been feeling since her mother bolted in. She knew they could probably hear her yelling down stares but that was the least of her worries at the moment.

"Stop it! Serena do you have any idea what it felt like to wake up and have you gone? Do you!!!!!!!!" she yelled right back.

"No but how do you think I felt when I woke up? You don't have any clue what it felt like waking up feeling like you're whole world was closing in around! I was scared and needed somewhere familiar, so I came here. I was I suppose to guess that you'd go completely ballistic on me I thought you'd realize where I would be!"

"Well excuse me for not reading your mind! Serena seriously sometimes you don't use that beautiful head of yours." Lily snapped back, but it was a revelation for Serena, she could now see that the anger in her mother's eyes were completely gone all that filled them now were apprehensiveness and concern.

Seeing this something snapped in Serena and even though she knew she should probably stop yelling at her mother but there was still so many emotions bottled up that needed release.

"Why do you even care!?! You do one motherly action and you automatically expect Mother of the Year! I'm sorry but it don't work that way!" Serena snapped looking down trying to ignore the feeling of being nauseous.

Serena expected to hear something out of Lily's mouth, but when she looked up Lily was speechless. Serena immediately regretted saying what had just slipped out of her mouth.

"Fine Serena you win. Stay here as long as you'd like. Sue me for worrying about my daughter" Lily snapped then turned away.

Again something inside Serena snapped and the tears began to flow down her already chapped cheeks.

"Mom wait!" Serena shot after her, ignoring the slight pain that began creeping up in her stomach. "Mom I need you! This baby needs you." She whispered the last part but Lily heard her.

She immediately turned around, eyes shooting to meet her daughter's eyes. "You're what?!"


End file.
